Good news for Braves fans.
Orioles star Manny Machado won’t be going to the Philadelphia Phillies, the team the Braves trail by a half-game in the NL East standings.
The Los Angeles Dodgers landed the prized All-Star shortstop from the Baltimore Orioles in a trade Wednesday night.
The Orioles received five prospects: outfielder Yusniel Diaz, right-hander Dean Kremer, third baseman Rylan Bannon, righty Zach Pop and third baseman Breyvic Valera.
Machado, a 26-year-old power hitter with extraordinary fielding skills, greatly improves the Dodgers' chances of reaching the World Series for a second consecutive year. He led Baltimore in batting average (.315), home runs (24) and RBIs (65).
Machado is expected to be introduced in Milwaukee on Friday before the Dodgers open a series against the Brewers.
Machado's contract expires at the end of the season, and the last-place Orioles decided against negotiating an expensive, multi-year extension because they have too many holes as the team moves into a rebuilding mode.
"We tried to maintain a competitive club this year, and that's why we resisted the offers we had in the offseason to trade Manny," Dan Duquette, the Orioles' executive vice president of baseball operations, said Wednesday night. "But when it became obvious that it was time to look to the future, trading Manny is the first step in the plan to rebuild our ballclub."
Though only a summer rental, Machado was coveted by a variety of contenders, including Philadelphia, Milwaukee, the Chicago Cubs and Arizona, currently a half-game behind the first-place Dodgers in the NL West.
"We liked the depth of the Dodger package, we liked the quality of the players in the package and we liked Yusniel Diaz, a player we feel is a gifted hitter," Duquette said. "We felt he was clearly the best player offered to us during this recent market. He was the key to the trade. But the other players in the trade are also very talented."
The 21-year-old Diaz hit two home runs in the All-Star Futures Game last weekend. He's hitting .314 with a .905 OPS with six homers, 30 RBIs and 36 runs scored this season.
The Braves and Phillies, meanwhile, return to action Friday night following the All-Star break.
